Today’s project: Zucchini Relish
Once upon a time, I thought zucchini was so easy to grow. The past two years, the squash bugs have ruined all my squash. My beloved Thelma Sanders and Candy Roasters . . . got one from each before the squash bugs ruined them. I’ve used enough DE to about break the bank and I think the squash bugs love it. I’ve read of several concoctions and I may try those next year but this year, a neighbor gave me zucchini and I made zucchini relish today.
I made 9 half pints. I wish I had enough zucchini to make at least 18 pints. This works in place of pickle relish. We love it on sandwiches, in potato salad or tuna salad.
It’s so pretty! It’s tangy, it’s spicy and it’s sweet. Yum!
Joyce says
I’ve heard that if you cover the squash plants with a lightweight sun cloth early in the spring it will help keep squash bugs away. Of course I’ve also heard that once you have squash bugs, you may as well just quit trying to grow squash. I went the “quit growing them” route. Of course that’s when I pretty much gave up on growing veggies entirely. I have a couple of tomato plants the deer keep eating, but my pepper plants have been going gang-busters. If my Mom were alive she would be wanting them to make pepper relish. LOL (She loved pepper relish and made it pretty much every year!)
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Everyone I know has had problems with squash bugs this year. My one neighbor had a few extras and gave me enough to make my relish but then the bugs got hers too. I’m not going to try to grow any for a few years and see if that will help. Overall, I seem to do better with peppers. I know what will happen when I say this but I don’t ever remember a year when my peppers didn’t do great. It’s hit or miss with tomatoes for me.
Stephani in N. TX says
If you aren’t getting zucchini in your garden, be assured everyone else is trying to get rid of theirs. Time to trade (depending on what is flourishing in your garden.) I have never grown zucchini when we didn’t have so much I was desperate to give it away rather than throw away the excess. Some zucchini bread sounds good just about now.
Tracy says
-I saw a video the other day about growing squash plants upright in a tomato cage. Makes them look a bit like a papaya tree, but it causes the main stem to grow a tougher skin, so the borers can’t dig in. The video showed two plants growing side by side, the one on the ground had obvious borers and the upright one was growing and productive. Maybe next years crop?
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Thanks. I’ll try that next year. This year I grew them in bags with a trellis which did keep them off the ground. I read that putting self rising flour around them would keep the squash bugs away. I have them on weed cloth so I kept it white with self rising flour. Did no good. I religiously dusted them with DE. Didn’t seem to help. I used Neem oil every few evenings. Didn’t help. I will try a few more things, including the tomato cage next year. I may get Vince to build me a “shelf” so the bags can be up off the ground a foot or so . . we’ll see.
Ann says
What recipe do you use for the relish?